"I’m too sacred for the sinners/And the saints wish I would leave." - Mark Heard

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Moron Judges And Ballots

I mean MORE ON judges.

There isn't much out there but there is a bit. So here's what I've got... judge for yourself (I'm crackin' myself up here!)

School BoardJon Olinger is certified Code Blue, meaning he was and is against the wasteful proposed $500,000,000 the school board tried to ram down our throats by spending over $400,000 on an outside consultant to teach them how to make this bitter medicine slide easily down the throats of the voters. His main opponment, Becky Hill, is spending $20,000 to get elected to this $2,000 per year job. Olinger is spending $5,000. Construction contacts, anyone?

State Judges/JusticesRandall Shepard, Thomas Fisher, and Brent Dickson where appointed by Republican Governor Robert Orr. Carr Darden and Theodore Boehm were appointed by Democrat Evan Bayh. Darden is a member of the left-leaning NAACP. I could find nothing else on decisions or non-legalesque memberships.

Local JudgesA bit more meat here.

Dan Heath - ruled in favor of the city that they had the right to take private property in order to build, um, other private property that would generate greater income (taxes). In this case it was for the Harrison Square hotel. Nice hotel we've got... Of course like everyone else he's running unopposed so we can't vote him out but at least you can withhold your vote if you wish.

"Druley argued in court the city could not take his land for the benefit of a for-profit hotel, but Allen Superior Judge Dan Heath and the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in the city’s favor. The State Supreme Court decided not to hear the case in early 2001, and Druley decided to sell for an undisclosed price. The property’s assessed value is about $908,000, according to county records."more

Stanley Levine - I found a handful of articles on him ruling that the health dept did not have to disclose which child care center had found e.coli. Meh.

John Surbeck - This guy needs to be thrown out on his occipital lobe.

"A Wisconsin man will serve eight years in prison for molesting a 5-year-old girl and soliciting a 13-year-old girl. In May, Ryan Smigelski, 18, was brought back to Indiana to face charges of child molesting and child solicitation. Allen Superior Court Judge John F. Surbeck gave Smigelski a 10-year sentence for one molestation count, with four years suspended. A separate, two-year sentence on another molestation charge will be served concurrently with the first. Smigelski also received a two-year sentence for child solicitation."

"A man will spend two years in jail on charges of sexual misconduct with a minor. Allen Superior Court Judge John F. Surbeck sentenced Mario A. Borroel to two years on the misconduct charge Monday. A separate charge of criminal deviate conduct was dismissed after the jury failed to reach a verdict. Borroel was arrested after being accused of molesting a 15-year-old boy who reportedly drank himself to sleep at a motel party in August."

Molest a child and get six years. The child gets a lifetime of mental anguish.

Fran Gull - seems pretty on the ball from what little I could find. She gets my vote!

Stephen Sims - another one for the dumpster.

"The 15-year-old boy who molested a 7-year-old girl at Franke Park Day Camp will spend an indeterminate amount of time on probation. In a brief hearing Friday, Allen Superior Judge Stephen Sims said he read the teen’s psychological-sexual report, and he did not believe Jean-Paul Lepley Herber would likely commit the crime again. He also said the teen’s parents scored above average on a test designed to determine their parenting ability." more

On the last page there is a question only a lawyer could craft:"Should the assessing duties of the elected township assessor in the township be transferred to the county assessor?"

Here I'm torn. Mitch Daniels is in favor of combining these offices, stating that it would reduce cost (at least of those price executive positions) and create greater consistency in assessing. For smaller counties this was done automatically but since we're big in the britches we get to vote.

On the other hand I like nothing more than to see two government agencies duke it out, getting little work done because government is at it's best when it's not doing anything.

But unless I hear more I'll vote for this one. That infighting still costs taxpayer money.